More and more flats sold below valuation in Singapore: sellers have been forced to adjust their expectations

As stricter home loan rules weaken demand, the volume of HDB flats being sold below their appraisal value has also increased, media reports said. In October, 105 flats were sold below valuation, or seven percent of the total volume, based on data from the housing board. This is significantly down from the average 0.3 percent for every month of the first half of the year. This also implies that the number of flats sold below valuation increased fourfold in October alone compared to the entire period of January to June, when an average of five such transactions were recorded each month. As such, sellers have been forced to adjust their expectations. For instance, Assistant Manager Raymond Koh asked for cash-over-valuation (COV) of S$20,000 for his second floor five-room flat in Punggol earlier this year. When he found no buyers, Koh lowered his COV to “S$10,000, then S$5,000...